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Former Minnesota AD sexually harassed beat reporter

Minnesota Smith Fired Basketball

Minnesota director of athletics Norwood Teague pauses before speaking at an NCAA college basketball news conference announcing that men’s head coach Tubby Smith has been fired Monday, March 25, 2013, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/The St. Paul Pioneer Press, John Doman)

AP

On Friday, Minnesota AD Norwood Teague resigned stemming from allegations that he sexually harassed multiple women, with a series of text messages released by the university showing just how graphic and inappropriate Teague got.

It’s creepy.

And it got worse for Teague and the school on Sunday night.

Amelia Rayno is the beat writer covering Minnesota’s basketball team for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. She shared her own story of the harassment she faced from Teague:

But this December night was different. Teague asked me about my longtime boyfriend, as he often did. My mistake was acknowledging that we had just broken up. The switch flipped. Suddenly, in a public and crowded bar, Teague tried to throw his arm around me. He poked my side. He pinched my hip. He grabbed at me. Stunned and mortified, I swatted his advances and firmly told him to stop. He didn’t.

“Don’t deny,” he said, “our chemistry.”

I told him that he was drastically off base, that my only intention in being there was as a reporter – to which he replied: “You’re all strictly business? Nothing else?”

I walked out. He followed me. I hailed a cab. He followed me in, grabbing at my arm and scooting closer and closer in the dark back cabin until I was pressed against the door. I told him to stop. I told him it was not OK. He laughed. When I reached my apartment, I vomited.

Later that night he texted: “Night strictly bitness.”


It got worse, as Rayno wrote that Teague’s unwanted advances extended beyond just the one night. It got bad enough that she was forced to consider leaving a good beat; it’s a difficult thing to do to cover a college basketball team while trying to avoid any and all conversations with the program’s athletic director.

Kudos to Rayno for sharing her story. This happens to female journalists much more often than you’d like to believe.